It has long been a substantial challenge to detect pancreatic cancer early, often resulting in diagnoses that are too late for treatments to be effective.

However, Duke University researchers have developed a new test that can detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages through a simple blood work-up, offering hope for early detection and treatment.

The Current Challenge of Pancreatic Cancer Detection

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States and is projected to become the second by 2020.

One of the major issues in detecting pancreatic cancer is that there are no efficient screening tools for early-stage cancer, and its symptoms often mimic other illnesses, lengthening the time that diagnosis takes.

Standard detection methods for pancreatic cancer include ultrasounds, computed tomography (CT) scans, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

However, these methods can only detect and diagnose tumors that are larger than 2 cm, indicating that they won’t work for catching the disease early.

Moreover, diagnosing pancreatic cancer can be complicated by its typically asymptomatic nature until it has begun to spread to other organs, which typically occurs in the latter stages of the condition, reducing the possibility of effective treatment.

The Discovery of New Blood Test for Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer

A research team at Duke University School of Medicine has identified that alterations in blood plasma proteins can signal the presence of early-stage pancreatic cancer.

They developed a test called the pancreatic cancer detection (PCD) test, which screens blood for changes that indicate cancer. The test was designed to measure the levels of several different proteins found in the blood that have been linked with pancreatic cancer and it worked by identifying the nature of molecular changes when cancer is present.

The test is very affordable at around $50 and results can be returned within a day.

The key to the PCD test is the ability to identify not just one protein linked with pancreatic cancer, but an entire suite of them that can point to the presence of cancer in a patient’s bloodstream.

The test’s success rate lies in its ability to identify specific protein patterns that are typically only present in the blood of pancreatic cancer patients or those at high risk of developing the disease.

PCD Test – What Happens Next?

The Duke University team that developed the PCD test are now conducting a larger-scale clinical trial as a necessary step toward determining FDA approval for the test.

The test has already been evaluated as 96.1% accurate in the original study, but needs further testing to prove its effectiveness and safety adequately.

If the PCD test is given the go-ahead by regulatory authorities, it could serve as an immensely valuable tool to physicians and patients alike.

This blood test would allow doctors to identify pancreatic cancer early on and provide a successful treatment plan at a stage where this cancer’s survival rates are much higher: with 5-year pancreatic cancer survival rates of about 90% for stage 1 patients, versus only 3% for those with stage 4 cancer.

Conclusion

The discovery of a blood-based test for the early detection of pancreatic cancer has the potential to revolutionize the way we diagnose and treat cancers, particularly those with low survival rates such as pancreatic cancer.

The PCD test offers new hope for patients with pancreatic cancer to lead healthier lives with more effective treatments, and hopefully, survival rates will improve dramatically as a result because early detection is always the key to increased prospects for successful treatment. We eagerly await the results of the larger scale clinical trial being conducted by the Duke team and hope to see the approval of this innovative test in the near future.